Featured Artist Mike Filippello

Artsy Shark presents the work of American folk artist Mike Filippello. Enjoy his naive portfolio, and see more by visiting his website.

I’ve always considered myself lucky to be creative because I come from a creative family. My mom is a really talented artist and quilter. My older sister used to be a fashion designer of childrens’ clothes in NYC many years ago. As for me, I always loved art. I always used to draw and write. What really got me started into painting was when my wife and I lived in Florida back in 2002. It was a newspaper article that my Sister-in-law showed me about a company that had just come to Orlando, Florida and placed a vending machine that sold art out of it. It was called “Artists in Cellophane” and you could buy an original piece of art from the machine for just $5.00. I knew then that I wanted to try and paint. I celebrated my 38th birthday when we lived in Florida and I received a $25.00 gift card to an art store, and that was how I got started. I actually didn’t submit anything to “Artists in Cellophane” until the fall of 2008 a few years after my wife and I had moved back to NY. It was one of those things that was always in the back of my mind to do but never really did until I committed to the idea, I was so lucky that my prototype was accepted and I received the email that I was accepted and went to work on painting the first 50 blocks.

The years between 2002-2008 I did many things regarding my art and my children books. My first book “Miratambo Moonsong” was accepted by a publishing company in the fall of 2003 just as we were going back to NY and came out in the spring of 2004. I pursued getting press releases published in the local papers and ultimately I managed to get 5 press releases published and I was also on the local news and a radio talk show to talk about my book.
My second book “In a place called Barrontippeny” which is the sequel to “Miratambo Moonsong” was published in 2009.

I’ve had a painting published in Decor Magazine in 2006. In the fall of 2006 I was published in the Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper (Rochester, NY)(Circulation about 100k) in the Featured Artist Spotlight column. In March 2007 I was published in Art Business News as an “Emerging Artist”.

My main online gallerywas  opened in the fall of 2005- to date that gallery has received more than 150,000 hits. I also belong to a number of online galleries. This gallery contains a number of sub-galleries where I upload my work to, I hope you will have a look.

The thing that I love the most about art is the simple fact that there are no rules. The canvas is blank and you can fill it with whatever colors, shapes, and textures that you want. I love to have the freedom to do what I want to do. I love painting the details in my paintings. All of my paintings have unique and individual names that I make up for them. A few years ago, I posted a painting on my artwanted page and the name of that painting is “Morning shines on Nicolapanti Park,” I received an email from a gentleman who lived in Italy-he just happened to be doing a google search of name and found my painting. He sent me an email about it- he liked the painting.”

I have a number of different things that I’ve been blessed to have experienced in my art and writing careers. If you would like any specific information-please feel free to let me know and I would be happy to send you any information that you would like to review. I truly love what I do with my art and my children books. These are the things that my dreams are made of.